After the Red Bull driver sealed his 2023 F1 world drivers’ championship with second place in Saturday’s sprint race in Qatar, he went one better with victory in the grand prix, but the event was overshadowed by tyre trouble and a gruelling hot race that left drivers unwell.
PLUS: How the Qatar GP F1 tyre farce flattered McLaren and hurt Verstappen
The FIA mandated a maximum stint length of 18 laps per set of tyres on safety grounds after Pirelli detected tyre sidewall damage after Friday’s running.
That threw the carefully prepared Qatar GP race strategies out, while Mercedes wrecked its own race when Lewis Hamilton and George Russell collided at the first corner.
With Verstappen once again victorious, McLaren picked up the rest of the spoils as Oscar Piastri, fresh from his sprint win, took second place ahead of team-mate Lando Norris in third.
That means there are talking points aplenty, as Martyn Lee is joined by Matt Kew in Qatar, along with Jake Boxall-Legge and Haydn Cobb.
